Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Sightings
Is an oil crash coming? The item featured on Campbell Live (TV3) last night said it was. They got their primary info from www.oilcrash.com (a New Zealand-based website). I'll summarise in a moment their thesis, but first a thought at how this will affect the coming Elections. This is an issue tailor-made for the Greens to capitalise on. If the media take it up (and there has already been quite a lot of exposure over the past 3 months, eg this article at Scoop), it will give them quite a boost in support. The main points from oilcrash.com: Oil extraction from wells will be physically unable to meet global demand; alternative energy sources like nuclear and natural gas will fall far short of compensating; massive disruptions to transportation and the economy are expected from about 2005-2007 onward; global trade will greatly decline; agriculture depends heavily on fertilizers and chemicals made from oil; all plastics are derived from oil; reduction of virtually all business and government activity; very serious unemployment. Trevor Mallard, incidentally, told Campbell he did not disagree that there would be a shortage, but said it would be a lot longer coming.
The New Zealand government will allow fertility clinics to perform pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for serious inherited disorders. The National Ethics Committee on Assisted Human Reproduction says that PGD for non-medical reasons is forbidden, including sex selection or altering the genetic constitution of an embryo.
The Professor of Religious Education at Exeter University, Terence Copley, says that the education system in the UK is under the rising influence of secularists, and that the RE curriculum has been used for the promotion of a secularised worldview. Professor Copley pointed out that the secularisation process of RE has taken the divine out of religion since the 1960s and 1970s.
The University of Auckland has unveiled plans to open a "Confucius Institute" - with the aim of promoting Chinese as the second, international language of choice in New Zealand schools. The institute comes hard on the heels of the New Zealand/China free trade agreement and will be a national centre to promote Chinese language and culture. The institute is a partnership between Auckland University and the Chinese Government. New Zealand is only the third country to be invited to establish a Confucius Institute after those opened at Stockholm University and the University of Maryland.
Should parents be punished for their kids behaviour? Well, that's not actually what Don Brash said, despite the media hype. Here's what Don Brash really said about National's youth justice policy, and holding parents accountable for their kids' bad behaviour, "Saving a generation of young people".
There has been a big backlash against the government's suggestions to introduce "hate speech" legislation. Church leaders, academics, broadcasters and conservative groups are among a growing faction condemning proposed laws that would block all New Zealanders from expressing certain opinions. An overwhelming majority of submissions to the parliamentary select committee slammed the proposals as a threat to freedom of expression and the democratic process. And the committee chairwoman, Labour MP Dianne Yates, appeared to back away from the significance of the inquiry, describing it as "a little luxury". There was no policy and no bill, she said.
Pro-family activists are disputing the results of a new Columbia University study that claims teens who pledge to be abstinent are just as likely to be infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) as those who never pledged. Abstinence advocates say the research is questionable, and add that with the right support, abstinence until marriage is possible for teenagers. "The design of the study is very, very flawed," explained Leslee Unruh, president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse. "The control groups that they used—very flawed. The collecting, the data—very flawed."
Is an oil crash coming? The item featured on Campbell Live (TV3) last night said it was. They got their primary info from www.oilcrash.com (a New Zealand-based website). I'll summarise in a moment their thesis, but first a thought at how this will affect the coming Elections. This is an issue tailor-made for the Greens to capitalise on. If the media take it up (and there has already been quite a lot of exposure over the past 3 months, eg this article at Scoop), it will give them quite a boost in support. The main points from oilcrash.com: Oil extraction from wells will be physically unable to meet global demand; alternative energy sources like nuclear and natural gas will fall far short of compensating; massive disruptions to transportation and the economy are expected from about 2005-2007 onward; global trade will greatly decline; agriculture depends heavily on fertilizers and chemicals made from oil; all plastics are derived from oil; reduction of virtually all business and government activity; very serious unemployment. Trevor Mallard, incidentally, told Campbell he did not disagree that there would be a shortage, but said it would be a lot longer coming.
The New Zealand government will allow fertility clinics to perform pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for serious inherited disorders. The National Ethics Committee on Assisted Human Reproduction says that PGD for non-medical reasons is forbidden, including sex selection or altering the genetic constitution of an embryo.
The Professor of Religious Education at Exeter University, Terence Copley, says that the education system in the UK is under the rising influence of secularists, and that the RE curriculum has been used for the promotion of a secularised worldview. Professor Copley pointed out that the secularisation process of RE has taken the divine out of religion since the 1960s and 1970s.
The University of Auckland has unveiled plans to open a "Confucius Institute" - with the aim of promoting Chinese as the second, international language of choice in New Zealand schools. The institute comes hard on the heels of the New Zealand/China free trade agreement and will be a national centre to promote Chinese language and culture. The institute is a partnership between Auckland University and the Chinese Government. New Zealand is only the third country to be invited to establish a Confucius Institute after those opened at Stockholm University and the University of Maryland.
Should parents be punished for their kids behaviour? Well, that's not actually what Don Brash said, despite the media hype. Here's what Don Brash really said about National's youth justice policy, and holding parents accountable for their kids' bad behaviour, "Saving a generation of young people".
There has been a big backlash against the government's suggestions to introduce "hate speech" legislation. Church leaders, academics, broadcasters and conservative groups are among a growing faction condemning proposed laws that would block all New Zealanders from expressing certain opinions. An overwhelming majority of submissions to the parliamentary select committee slammed the proposals as a threat to freedom of expression and the democratic process. And the committee chairwoman, Labour MP Dianne Yates, appeared to back away from the significance of the inquiry, describing it as "a little luxury". There was no policy and no bill, she said.
Pro-family activists are disputing the results of a new Columbia University study that claims teens who pledge to be abstinent are just as likely to be infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) as those who never pledged. Abstinence advocates say the research is questionable, and add that with the right support, abstinence until marriage is possible for teenagers. "The design of the study is very, very flawed," explained Leslee Unruh, president of the Abstinence Clearinghouse. "The control groups that they used—very flawed. The collecting, the data—very flawed."
